Floods force townsfolk out of homes

ABOUT 1,000 people in a small Australian town evacuated their homes yesterday as floodwaters besieged the area after 10 days of heavy rain.

Emergency officials advised 1,200 residents of Coonamble, 257 miles north west of Sydney, to move to less-threatened parts of the town away from the rising Castlereagh River.

State Emergency Services urged people to evacuate by nightfall. The river was expected to peak at 18 feet early today – its highest level since February 1971 and just below a 19ft high levee.

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State Emergency Services spokesman Phil Campbell said: "We want to make sure that the people there do not have any risk to their own safety, so we need to err on the side of caution."

He said there was concern about the levee withstanding such a high flood level, but mayor Tim Horan said engineers did not anticipate major problems.

"We know we've got some weak points in the levee where there's seepage with the sand. But we've just got to make sure we put in precautions to cover any problems that may arise."

Coonamble was cut off by floodwaters caused by heavy rains that began Christmas Day. Meteorologist say the worst of the rain is over.